What’s The Deal With That ‘Go, You Chicken Fat, Go’ iPhone Commercial Anyway?

Perhaps you, like me, have noticed the latest commercial for the iPhone 5s, which features a song containing the lyrics “Go, you chicken fat, go.” And perhaps you, again like me, began to wonder just what in the hell any of that meant or had to do with modern telecommunications, especially considering the last big commercial for the iPhone 5s featured a rock group made up of teenagers singing an uplifting and peppy song that is technically about a giant penis. What wonderful secrets did this song selection contain?

So, we go to Google. Tell me about this “Chicken Fat” song, Internet.

“Chicken Fat,” also known as “The Youth Fitness Song.” Composed for President Kennedy’s Physical Fitness Program. Recordings of this song were sent to school districts throughout the United States to accompany the official U.S. Physical Fitness program of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness. [JFK Library]

Wait, what?

In 1961, [Robert] Preston was asked to make a recording as part of a program by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness to get schoolchildren to do more daily exercise. The song, “Chicken Fat”, which was written and composed by Meredith Willson and performed by Preston with full orchestral accompaniment, was distributed to schools across the nation and played for students in calisthenics every morning. The song later became a surprise novelty hit and part of many baby-boomers’ childhood memories. [Wikipedia]

Okay, so there are two things going on here:

The first thing is that Apple is promoting the fitness-assisting capabilities of its fancy new product by using a quirky, notable fitness-related song from over 50 years ago, which is quite the change of pace from the days when they would make stars out of lesser-known indie bands by dropping a snippet of one of their songs over a neon orange screen filled with hip, dancing silhouettes, but whatever, I guess. I’m no marketing guru. And here I am talking about it free of charge, so some part of it must be working, right?

But the second and much more important thing is that apparently John F. Kennedy commissioned the creator of The Music Man to write a song that would inspire pudgy children to do push-ups, and that guy went back to Kennedy at some point after that with a song riddled with lyrics like “Nuts to the flabby guys! Go, you chicken fat, go away!,” to which Kennedy replied, presumably, “Perfect. Ship it to every school in America.” This is incredible. And can you even imagine the left-right poo-flinging that would take place on cable news if this happened today? It would be chaos. Someone’s head might literally explode on-camera. I vote we try it.

Michelle Obama is suggesting children should eat the healthier kinds of food recommended by doctors but in your conservative eyes, she’s “trying to make kids eat the kinds of food she wants them to eat,” and in the more insane telling of Fox News, she’s orchestrating a secret socialist “candy grab” in an effort to destroy childhood forever.

So, yeah, if Obama commissioned a song targeting kids’ “chicken fat” the Professional Outrage Machine at Fox News would crank past eleven.

@Danger — I guess I missed the part where she buys her own Trailways tickets to go out and preach instead of flying on the taxpayer tab. (And of course that’s tongue-in-cheek; they all do it.)

@Otto — Personally, I think the little fat bastards should have to eat gruel and ask “Please, sir, may I have some more.” But that’s a different musical.

If they really want to do some good for kids who need better food, they should stop their union donors from protesting Walmart when it wants to open in a rough neighborhood. Poor people need cheap fresh produce too.

@DNP Priapism — Oh, not at all. There are fatasses galore in the ‘burbs. I’m just talking about having *access* to better, healthier food.

If you have a choice of Giant, Safeway, Kroger, Publix, Smith’s, Walmart, etc., it’s your own fault if you live on crap. If all you have is canned stuff from the bodega, that makes it hard for you to eat healthy no matter what your intentions. Unfortunately, several times Walmart’s attempts to enter underserved urban neighborhoods have been shut down by union protesters and NPR-member do-gooders who stop at their neighborhood Whole Foods on their way home.

(Personally, I hate Walmart and its produce sucks — but it still beats the nasty little neighborhood store where the cashiers are behind glass.)

I’m Gen-X and my elementary school would play this during the morning announcements. I remember stretching to this while wearing my Sears Toughskins. Thanks for churning up this repressed memory, jerks.

I don’t think that Apple will be happy until people are literally staring at their iPhone/iPad/iMac/iWatch from the moment their iPhone alarm wakes them up until the minute they fall asleep to the soothing sounds of a Genius-assembled album of sleep-themed music on iTunes.

Chicken fat back then described the pudginess of kids who were not fit, but not really fat either. Just chubby 10-15 lbs overweight. It was thought of as fat that could easily be lost if you just got off your butt and did something. Something direly needed for today. And this song is well known by anyone between 35-60. Gym classes played this song for 20 years.

My high school gym teacher made the girls do the dorky calisthenics from this record (yes, record!) in the late 1960s to early 1970s. We wore gymsuits — so glad those have been retired! — and the boys used to peek around the sliding plastic “wall” that divided the gym and laugh at us every day and call us “chicken fat.” I never heard the phrase “chicken fat” except in connection to this song, or in connection to Jewish cooking (schmaltz). My memories of this song are memories of humiliation and very stupid ways to be physically active.

I remember the song in gym class back in the 60’s…..the ‘record’ was played when we got into class and we did the exercises to it to get warmed up. I loved it so much that I bought – and still have somewhere – that record. I always loved the warm ups to that song. It’s a classic! LOL Whenever I hear the commercial I’ll stop what I’m doing and do the exercises. Unfortunately, the commercial doesn’t play the entire song. Love the memories!